Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Wow, gorgeous aurora pics, YBE - the third one is very similar to the one DD sent me. Apparently, there's another chance of seeing them tonight. I did see the ISS going over at 1am this morning when I was staggering into bed post-BBQ - I'm so glad I looked out of the window.

Winnie...  

I thought the fountain would have stored the sunlight and worked the same as fairy lights, twopenny, so that's disappointing.

I hope the sore arm eases off, Farway. Are you okay to take some paracetamol mild painkillers?? Hopefully you can have a wee snooze this afternoon after your early start.

We're forecast thunderstorms pretty much all day today.

Ps I can hear the cuckoo, cuckooing away at the moment. One of the blackbirds flew onto the kitchen window when I was in there earlier wanting food - I've seen one baby in the garden, but there are at least 3 'couples' feeding babies at the moment, backwards and forwards - I need to buy more sultanas...

YoungBlueEyes

Farway if the Oracle is anything to go by she was ropey the day after, mildly ropey the day after that and then fine. But if you don't fancy taking pills I can come down there and give you a hearty kick in the shins to take your mind off it if you like?
You might not have wanted to be up so early but isn't 0530 a marvelous time of day? Lovely dawns sometimes, nice soft air, cool and quiet, it's like you've got the whole world to yourself   I love it, really I do. Even if I never see the northern lights again I'll be happy enough. 

I think you're right taff, I do (unintentionally) stand out. I stand out here because I'm not English and I stand out when I go home because I sound English. I need to start playing and winning the rottery and then find myself a wee desert island somewhere. Maybe that's for the next life too...

Aww blackies pp, I think you got my share this year so take extra good care of them. I used to snip raisins/currants/whatever into bits so the babbies didn't choke, I did the same with mealworms too. I hope the window clatterer is ok...? 

I wonder when Enya wort's back from sailing away...

ArbitraryRandom

LessImpecunious said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

 ended up with far too many beans and peas given a number of the ones I thought had failed had in fact just been taking a month to show themselves! I think I'm going to put two per support pole - that sound about right? That would mean I've got space for all of my plants, and I think it's fine for the peas from my reading, but I'm a little worried the broad beans are bigger - should I do three or four peas to a pole and try to give the bigger beans their own? 

Not sure whether you've got runners as well as broad beans (and broad beans don't usually need a pole to grow up?), but I often put two (runners or french climbing) to a pole - can't say whether they compete and reduce the crop as 2P suggests they might as I've not monitored that closely, but reckon its worth having the spare, and always get beans from both (often too many to keep up with...). Peas are often planted very close together (2" or so) so they should be fine, as long as they have sufficient water. Broad beans will usually produce multiple stems from one plant, so best planted at a reasonable distance...
 

Unfortunately I did two things...
1. I bought a variety that apparently does 'better' with support (Bunyards Exhibition)  and
2. I mixed up my runner (moonlight, painted lady, and scarlet emperor), french (opera and cobra) and broad beans (Bunyards)

You'd think I'd be able to tell a difference thanks to growth habits, but because I sowed some in soil and germinated some in a jar, plus the multiple varieties, combined with they're all maturing at different speeds, it's a bit hit and miss  

Based on 2p's advice, what I've done so far is double plant the peas (Oregon Sugar Pod and Kelvedon Wonder - half of which are doing really well and the other has been badly eaten by slugs, but not sure if it's all of one variety, and single planted what I think is the broad beans (there's only six I'm confident in identifying at this stage), but I might double everything up as more grow up and give them BF&B or chicken poop every few weeks... and I've got basically 12 more planting spots in the area with supports I mentally set aside for doubled up runners.

What I'm thinking now is I'll use all the spots for the runners/french and move the BBs to interplant with the squash with just some odd canes? That would give me 18 spots for the other beans and mean they can mostly be single planted. 

Rain due here this late afternoon/early evening, then overnight. My focus really is on packing for next week (plus making brownies for my boss as it was his birthday last week), but I do need to get a few more things in the ground so they are less likely to get dried out/struggle while I'm away. I'm hoping it's going to be cooler next weekend so it's easier for me to spend time actually doing a few things that I've been putting off. Birds (small ones, not gulls) are being incredibly noisy today, which is nice - I've not really noticed them much so far this year. 

Farway

YoungBlueEyes said:

Farway if the Oracle is anything to go by she was ropey the day after, mildly ropey the day after that and then fine. But if you don't fancy taking pills I can come down there and give you a hearty kick in the shins to take your mind off it if you like?
You might not have wanted to be up so early but isn't 0530 a marvelous time of day? Lovely dawns sometimes, nice soft air, cool and quiet, it's like you've got the whole world to yourself   I love it, really I do. Even if I never see the northern lights again I'll be happy enough. 

Pass on shin kicking, thanks for the kind offer though. Still feeling a tad ropey, I was going to make a start on the tomato pots in the conservatory but decided against it and raided 'fridge instead.

Daft as it sounds I was shivery even in this heat

One thing I did see at 0530 was Red Sky, and now my PC tells me of Yellow Warning, but only after Dusty has been drowned

I may manfully struggle outside and plant one of my Siberian sages in a pot at the front, if rain on the way, may as well take advantage.

Dustyevsky

Can't join in with experiences on the jag and aurora front, so I'll say nowt, except I hope you get pain-free asap, Farway and any others partaking. I'm glad someone mentioned Echinaceas, because I have some somewhere that need to touch base with me.

Busy here, today and yesterday, with a number of projects on the go, the harder ones being completed by DD2 and her OH. Somehow, we have a washing line area being completed, with wedding anniversary cattle trough pond from 2 years ago installed. Won't put a solar fountain into that though. DD2 had one in her half barrel pond, and it behaved exactly as p2 says. 'Tis overcoming friction and gravity wot makes solar marginal.

YoungBlueEyes said:

I think you're right taff, I do (unintentionally) stand out. I stand out here because I'm not English and I stand out when I go home because I sound English. I need to start playing and winning the rottery and then find myself a wee desert island somewhere. Maybe that's for the next life too...

No, you're just fine. You remind me of some northern ladies I met at uni. Being a southern wuss, but always speaking my mind, I found them very...err...'refreshing.' Men too, but obviously in a different way. The only guys I write to now are north of Leeds.

Trawling madly for a picture....How about some lambs and their Mums in the field next door? Still warm, sticky and windless here, but due to change tomorrow. Meanwhile, Mrs Dusty and I are planting a hedge of Cotoneaster franchetii, ready for it to be watered in.

"Sheep may safely snooze."

Farway

Dustyevsky said:

"Sheep may safely snooze."

I have bits from a relative of theirs in the fridge

pink_poppy

Farway!! 😂

Tattie update... I now have Roosters sprouting (2 bags) and possibly the Maris Piper - will check again tomorrow.

I’ve been given two very healthy tomato plants by my lovely neighbour (I like to think he’s a cross between Dusty and Farway 😊) and now have serious garden fruit and veg growing envy. And I really want a greenhouse again.

No thunder has rumbled today and only a tiny bit of rain has fallen. I’m still recovering from last night’s BBQ (cough) so have started reading the Bob Mortimer autobiography ‘And Away’ - really enjoying it so far.

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Dustyevsky said:

"Sheep may safely snooze."

I have bits from a relative of theirs in the fridge

Likewise, and probably a closer one! Maybe I should have added, "for now."

Here's the 'children' getting on with the washing line area. They've shifted 2 dumpy bags of granite chips today!

And the finished result:

No water in the trough yet, but we'll have fun getting plants for it, and there's no danger of hedgehogs falling in!

Our planting is still going on. The wind's shifted to the west and strengthened, so it's building up to something. Exeter inebriates say no rain overnight, but watch out tomorrow afternoon. Well, house needs a clean...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

I’ve been given two very healthy tomato plants by my lovely neighbour (I like to think he’s a cross between Dusty and Farway 😊)

Biologically impossible, I'm afraid, though I guess he could self-identify thus. Does he knock pots over and lose things, like Echinaceas, all the time? Mrs Dusty had to ring me again at lunchtime so I could locate my phone, not seen since Friday. It was in one of my shoes....

ArbitraryRandom

Dustyevsky said:

Farway said:

Dustyevsky said:

"Sheep may safely snooze."

I have bits from a relative of theirs in the fridge

And the finished result:

Dusty: That looks really tidy - I bet they ache, but I hope they (and you) are chuffed with the day's work. 

Speaking of, did I miss the update where the new entry was all done and dusted? Last I heard the weather was delaying play and the builder's dad was off on holiday (IIRC)?

Not a huge amount done today. I moved the broad beans I put in yesterday so they're now supportless but I can put in some canes and string down the line if needed. I'm debating planting out my french/runner seedlings now even though they're a little small, just in case we have another heatwave while I"m away and not here to water them.

On that topic, had a lovely little rain storm and some thunder here at about 4-5. No lighting as it was too bright with it and kept the heat. I love that smell just as the rain starts. It was only a short shower, but it broke the oppressiveness of the last few days and I think now we're due some more overnight. 

PP/Less: I just inspected my experimental potatoes and I think I've got two of the king Edwards in the 'part filled' tub just about come up. Nothing yet from the deeper filled (which isn't surprising as they've got 6 inches more to grow to reach the surface), but maybe by the end of the week? 

Hoping our event on Wednesday will be reasonably dry, but if not we're in the lovely visitors centre so plenty to do during the breaks even if there's not much wandering around. 

Reading this back, my brain is even more all over the place than normal